Robot Navigation Behaviors based on Omnidirectional Vision and Information Theory

In this work we present a reactive autonomous robot navigation system based only on omnidirectional vision. It does not rely on any prior knowledge about the environment apart from assuming a structured one, like indoor corridors or outdoor avenues. The direction of the corridor is estimated from the entropy analysis of a 1-D omnidirectional image. The 2-D omnidirectional image is analyzed for obstacle avoidance and for keeping a safety distance from the borders of the corridor. Both methods are non-metric and no 3-D information is needed. The system performs well with different resolutions and the catadioptric sensor needs no calibration. We present results from indoor and outdoor experiments.